The Embassy World Championship has produced many memorable moments in its 25-year history.

Keith Deller's unexpected win over Eric Bristow in 1983 and the mammoth battle between Phil Taylor and Mike Gregory in 1992 are two that stand out.

But here are some of the lesser known facts about the event which began back in 1978.

BBC Television has screened every world championship and Tony Green has been the commentator in every one.

The inaugural Embassy World Championship was staged at the Heart of the Midlands Club, Nottingham, and moved to Jollees, Stoke-on-Trent, from 1979 to 1985. It has been staged at Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, from 1986 to the present day.

Leighton Rees collected £3,000 for winning in 1978.

It was to be another 17 years before the Embassy world title returned to Wales - courtesy of Richie Burnett, who beat Dutchman Raymond Barneveld 6-3 in the 1995 final. Burnett picked up £34,000 for his win.

Lakeside has hosted the event since 1986

The Burnett v Barneveld final was repeated in 1998 but the positions were reversed as the Dutchman beat the Welshman 6-5 after a last set tie-break.

Barneveld returned home a hero and gave up his job as a postman in The Hague to become the first ever professional darts player in The Netherlands. Today he enjoys a wealthy lifestyle as one of the country's top sportsmen.

In 1999 he was involved in yet another final set tie-break, this time triumphing 6-5 against England's Ronnie Baxter.

An estimated five million viewers watched when the 1998 final was screened live for the first time by Dutch TV. Those figures have been repeated every year since.

The first ever overseas player to become the Embassy world champion was John Part of Canada in 1994.

Eric Bristow played in 10 finals and won the world championship a record-breaking five times between 1980 and 1986, making him the most successful Embassy player of all-time. He and John Lowe played in 16 Embassy championships.

John Lowe played in eight finals and was world champion three times.

Paul Lim, then of Singapore, recorded the only nine-dart 501 game in the history of the Embassy against Jack McKenna in 1990.

Ted Hankey set two records on his way to the 2000 title. He scored an amazing 48 x 180s (nine more than the previous record held by Raymond Barneveld) and won in style by hitting the highest three-dart checkout of 170 with his last throw of the championship. He won £46,000 in 46 minutes (£44,000 as champion and £2,000 for the highest checkout): a winning ratio of £1,000 per minute.

The most memorable winning checkout prior to Hankey's and Paul Lim's nine-darter was achieved in the 1983 final between Eric Bristow and the unseeded qualifier Keith Deller, who checked out on the famous 138 (t20, t18 d12) to snatch the title.

Only four other unseeded players have won the title: Phil Taylor (1990), Dennis Priestley (1991), John Part (1994), Les Wallace (1997).

The number one seed has won the title on nine occasions: John Lowe (1979), Eric Bristow (1981, 1984, 1985 and 1986), Bob Anderson (1988), Phil Taylor (1992) and Raymond Barneveld (1998 and 1999).

Lowe played in eight Embassy finals

England captain Martin Adams holds the world record for scoring 16 x 180s in a nine-set match. This was recorded in his epic 1999 quarter-final 5-4 defeat to Chris Mason, who also hit 13 x 180s in the same match.

Les Wallace of Scotland became the first ever left-handed Embassy world champion in 1997, and did so wearing a kilt.

England's Trina Gulliver was crowned the first Embassy women's world champion in 2001, and scored an incredible 31.64 average in her semi-final.

The 2001 Embassy world champion John "Boy" Walton won a record breaking 14 successive legs in his quarter-final match with Marko Pusa of Finland. He scored the highest championship average of 33.54 in the first round.

The overall championship average for the 2001 Embassy was 30.63.

The 2001 world championship produced a record-breaking total of 248 x 180s.

The first ever female streaker, 24-year-old Emma Hughes of Oxford, disrupted the first round match between Ted Hankey and Shaun Greatbatch during the 2001 Embassy World Championship.